Move to more frugal cars pushed the average CO2 of new cars sold in the UK
below the EU's 2015 manufacturers' target of 130g/km

The cars we bought last year are so economical that the UK has hit emission targets for new-vehicle sales a year early, new figures have revealed.

The average carbon dioxide emissions for cars registered in 2013 was just 128.3g/km, equivalent to around 50mpg for a petrol car and 57mpg for a diesel, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

It means as a country we’ve already beaten the mandatory EU-wide 130g/km target set for car companies by 2015, which seemed like an impossible goal when it was first announced back in 2009 when the UK average was 149g/km.

The move to economical cars has partly been driven by emissions taxation, especially for company car drivers, who pay a benefit tax on their fleet car according to how much CO2 it puts out. Last year fleet sales accounted for just over half of all new cars sold, according to SMMT figures

There has also been a shift into smaller cars, with the Ford Fiesta supermini the biggest seller last year. The Fiesta was one of four superminis in the top 10 sales chart.

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However the research is based on quoted CO2 figures instead of what’s actually emitted, which is likely to be a lot more given the discrepancy between the official fuel economy numbers and real-life consumption.

“Some companies are excessively relying on using flexibilities in testing procedures to achieve artificially low test results,” influential European pressure group Transport and Environment (T&E) said in a report published late last year.

According to T&E’s European figures for 2012, the latest available, Fiat achieved the lowest CO2 figure from its car sales with an average of 118.4g/km. Toyota was second with 122.1g/km, and Peugeot-Citroen just behind on 122.4g/km. The average across all car companies was 132.4g/km, meaning they are likely to have already surpassed the 2015 target.

After that it gets much tougher for makers after the EU earlier this year agreed a legally binding target of 95g/km of CO2 by 2021.